Elder Jarom Travis Odom

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Another Picture!

﻿

Singing a medley of Christmas songs at a mission Christmas party!

I was so excited about pictures last week I forgot to post highlights from his email...

Minamahal na pamilya ko (My Dear Family),

Our past week was full of miracles. I fast every Sunday for twenty-four hours for our area and for success. Elder Pareja and I have been led by the Spirit this past week and I can't deny it. We usually don't OYM very often. OYM means Open Your Mouth or talk to people and ask people if we can teach them, and give pamphlets out. We don't do it much because we have to focus on all of the less-active members first...we have OYMed eight times this week and we have two progressing investigators! We also OYMed to this young nanay (mother) and she was so interested she wanted us to teach her right then and there. We gave her a pamphlet and when we visited her she did the questions in the back and we didn't even ask her to do them. In the next six weeks, I feel like we will have three to five progressing investigators or three to five baptisms.

I have a strong testimony of fasting with prayer. I have a strong testimony that when we open our fast with a prayer, and be obedient and faithful at the same time, and WORK...we will be blessed and see miracles!!! I see miracles every time I fast.

A miracle...usually we have on average forty-two members and the highest the number has been in a loooooog time is fifty. On Sunday Elder Pareja and I opened our fast and started the day off by going to our "eternal" investigator's house who has been investigating for over a year and has a strong testimony. He hasn't come to church but once this whole time. He came to church with us!!!!! PUMBIHIRA!!!!! We have been inviting all our Priesthood holders to church because usually eighty percent of the members at church are the women. I swear women are already celestial! We had FIFTY-SEVEN members at church Sunday for fast and testimony meeting and we had a lot of the Priesthood holders there, and they stayed for classes. We had two more people in Priesthood and one is fourteen and he will be passing the sacrament next Sunday!! It was amazing! I bore my testimony and I told the people, "Sana, Dito ako so buong misyon." (Hopefully, I will stay here my whole mission)

I am now in Alma 31 in my Book of Mormon reading and I will finish the Book of Mormon in less than a month. I love reading from it every day. Every morning and throughout the day and every night. I love it.

I am thankful to be a missionary. I can't even explain the joy it brings to serve Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and work with the Holy Ghost because He is always the senior companion in the companionship that we need to listen to. I love serving others and bringing happiness in their lives...I have two years to show the Lord how much I love Him. MY MISSION MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME. I will not come home a returned missionary. I will always be a missionary. We all have been sent here with a purpose and we are all missionaries.

I say these things in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.